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Scissor sister

There was a feverish look of excitement in her eyes as she scooped up her scissors and dashed out the door - she didn’t want to miss her turn with him! I ordered a coffee … and waited.

Ten minutes later she returned with a huge smile on her face, cradling the precious scissors in her hands. She held them up to the light to get a closer look and nodded with approval. The previous sharpener had been a disappointment; he’d left the scissors too blunt. This time round she'd had the benefit of the best in the business.

I choked on my coffee as she explained that a good pair of scissors cost upwards of £200. For the Rolls Royce of scissors you could expect to pay close to a four figure sum. HOW MUCH??!! I’ve always known that hairdressers are highly possessive of the tools of their trade. I’ve seen them practically rugby tackle a salon junior who tries to ‘borrow’ anything from them. Now I understand why.

The best scissors on the market, according to Heidi, are Japanese. This seemed logical, given Japan's long heritage of expert bladesmiths and Samurai sword makers. (I had a vision of Heidi stepping backwards and slicing though my hair with one smooth swish).

German scissors, she said, are the most disappointing. They are too “clunky and square”. Hah! They may excel at penalty shoot outs and boast of ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ cars. Yet when it comes to making scissors, those Germans (literally) can’t cut it.

Heidi’s own scissors are fifteen years old and she has never been able to find a suitable replacement ... until now. To her delight she’s discovered that the scissor sharpening man also owns a wholesale business. She’ll be straight down there next week to explore the "hairdresser’s version of Aladdin’s Cave". I'm looking forward to the sharpest of haircuts on my return visit.